


Ninja Honor

by MzDany



Series: The Cam/Hunter universe [10]
Category: Power Rangers Ninja Storm
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-10
Updated: 2012-07-10
Packaged: 2017-11-09 14:28:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 15,406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/456539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MzDany/pseuds/MzDany
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set several months after 'Storm before the Calm'. Lothor might be gone, but the Wind and Thunder Ninjas are not out of enemies yet...Slash CamHunter</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**_Prelude_ **

Deep in the forested mountains of Blue Bay Harbor, California, the Wind Ninja and Thunder Ninja Academies were bristling with activity. In the eight months since Lothor's defeat at the hands of three Wind Ninjas, two Thunder Ninjas and the Green Samurai Ranger, the two schools had reopened virtually side by side, and all former feuds between their students was now a thing of the past.

On a rocky ledge high above the main training grounds of the Wind academy, a lone figure sat in the meditative lotus position. He was dressed in his black leather training uniform, the badge of a _Sensei_ on the right side of his jacket, the crest of his Ninja element, Wind, on the left. _Right above the heart, where it belonged._

Shane Clark, former Red Power Ranger, now teacher at the Wind Ninja Academy, let out a content sigh as he gazed out over what was, in his opinion, the greatest view in the world. He was musing, thinking about how their lives had changed since evil had been cast out and peace was restored on Earth. How... _normal_ all their lives had become, and how lucky he was to have all of his friends still around.

Below him, a small group of students carrying wooden swords were beginning to spill into the training plaza, lead by a graceful blonde woman. Tori.

 _Time for bokken practice already?_ Shane wondered. They all knew each other's teaching schedules. At the sight of his longtime friend, he felt a sense of peace come over him, and memories of the wedding filled his mind. Two months ago Blake had finally proposed, and the ceremony was held in Blue Bay Harbor a few weeks later.

What a great day that had been. The happiness in the newlyweds' faces was worth everything the Rangers had ever been through.

But that day had been made even more memorable due to one other event as well...Two more of his good friends had finally found each other.

Hunter and Cam.

The corners of Shane's mouth curled upwards in a smile. Cam and Hunter. The proverbial ying and yang. So completely different from each other, both in appearance and character, yet they were so good together. According to Cam, they had been drawn to each other for a long time; ever since Hunter had ignited the spark with an impulsive kiss following a training sparring in Ninja Ops. Neither of the two young men had considered themselves gay before this. Subsequently, their relationship had been very slow in the making. A lot of confusion and downright denial, especially from Cam, had to be overcome. Their mutual attraction, however, had never abated, and gradually the road to self-realization, and finally acceptance, had become easier to maneuver. And the fact that Blake and Hunter had actually moved into Ninja Ops for a few months due to some overwhelming financial difficulties surely must've had something to do with it, too.

Shane still recalled Cam's toast at the wedding reception. It had been a very touching dedication to Blake and Tori, but the end had held a surprising twist when he suddenly turned to Hunter and publicly declared his love for his companion.

 _One thing's for sure,_ Shane thought amused, _Blake and Tori weren't the only ones to consummate a union that night._

Hunter and Cam were out, they were together, and what was most important...they were happy. And Shane wished them nothing but happiness.

Below him, Tori's class was in full swing. Suddenly Shane saw a second familiar figure stride across the plaza, joining the former Blue Ranger and her students.

Dustin. Goof extraordinaireand Shane's best friend. Shane smiled.

Life was going good for Dustin. He loved teaching at the academy, was making quite a name for himself in Freestyle Motocross, and was still seeing Marah.

 _And you, old man..._ Shane thought to himself, but immediately dismissed any notions towards self-pity. He had nothing to complain about. Other than the fact that he was now the only single guy of the former Ranger posse.

 _No wonder, with the way my last relationship ended,_ he thought grimly.

Automatically, Shane's left hand balled into a fist. The hand that Lothor had come within an inch of cutting off less than a year ago when he had been after Shane's morpher. The evil ninja had sent a beautiful spy to seduce him and steal his morpher. She had succeeded in the former, yet not in the latter. Shane had ended up on Lothor's spaceship, and had the rest of the Ranger gang not shown up at just the right moment...

Shane suppressed a shudder and pulled himself to his feet.

 _Better get ready for my own class_. He still had some time, but one of his students was always extra-early, and she just happened to be extremely cute.

 _Maybe I am ready to move on after all,_ he thought, his grim features dissolving as he made his way down the hillside and towards the school.

 

**_Later..._ **

Night had descended upon the Wind Ninja Academy hours ago, and only very few rooms were still illuminated in the Teacher's Building.

Cam Watanabe's was one of them. It was close to midnight, but Cam didn't notice the time; he was totally absorbed in his work, squinting at his laptop screen. So close...

For months he had been working on repairing a very special program, and now it seemed that a breakthrough was imminent.

' _CyberCam, you should be up and bugging us all again real soon,'_ Cam thought with a grin. Then he yawned and took a look around his room in search for an empty CD to make yet another back-up. His room was the largest one in the building, but with all the equipment, gadgets and devices stacked into every corner and onto every surface, the place felt more like a closet. All of it was stuff he had salvaged from the wreckage of Ninja Ops. Hunter kept teasing him about it, calling him sentimental, and a pack rat, and in a way he was right; with the Ranger powers gone, most of the equipment was useless, but something still made him hold on to it. It was _his_ stuff, after all. He had spent years building, upgrading and repairing it.

But the truth was...he missed the Ranger days. Simple as that.

He was rummaging through one of his drawers when he heard the heavy footsteps in the hallway outside. Then, an urgent knock on his door. "Sensei, Sensei!"

Cam yanked open the door to find one of the night guards standing before him. He was accompanied by a disheveled Thunder Ninja student. "Sensei," the student cried, breathing heavily; he must have run all the way from his school, "there's been an attack on the Thunder Academy!"

Hunter! Cam felt like he had been hit with a brick. "What happened?" he asked, struggling to keep his voice even.

The student, still trying to catch his breath, only shook his head. "Don't know much. We were on night patrol when we were attacked out of nowhere. It all happened so fast...Next thing I remember is my patrol leader yelling at me to go get help and..."

But Cam had already turned towards the Wind night guard. "Inform my father. Then get the students together and move out towards the Thunder Academy." That said, he sprinted down the hallway, pounding first on Shane's then on Dustin's door. He stuck his head into Shane's room. Shane was already out of bed, pulling on his sweatpants. "What's going on?" he asked confused.

"The Thunders got attacked," Cam replied grimly. "I'm going over there."

Shane needed no further explanation. "We'll meet you there!"

 

**_The Thunder Academy..._ **

Cam raced along the dark path leading to the Thunder Ninja Academy. He needed no light; the path was completely familiar to him, since he took it almost every day. Normally, he needed a good ten minutes, even at a brisk jog, to get to the school.

Tonight he made it in five.

When he arrived on the school grounds, he saw every light of the Teacher's Building lit. The training plaza was alive with students, many of them only half-dressed. Cam breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the familiar figure of his partner in the crowd. Taller than most of his students, with a mop of unruly, blond hair, Hunter was easy to spot. He was holding a wooden training sword in his hand, talking to and directing some of the students. Cam headed straight for him. Hunter saw him coming through the crowd, and his grim features lifted a bit.

"Hey."

"Hey, you ok?" Cam asked, hugging Hunter only with his eyes, for public mushiness was not something either one of them practiced. "What happened?"

"Stealth attack," the Thunder Academy's head teacher replied. "I'm having the perimeters searched, but I'm pretty sure the bastards are gone by now."

"Any injuries?"

Hunter shook his head. "Just a couple of rattled teachers." Cam gave him a puzzled look. "They apparently went straight for the Teacher's Building," Hunter explained, "entered some of the teachers' rooms, but didn't actually attack anyone. I think they were looking for something."

Now Cam was definitely confused. _Who were these intruders and what were they looking for?_ "Did you see any of them?"

Hunter nodded. "I woke up from the commotion, went into the hallway to investigate, and saw a figure bolting from Sensei Chan's room. Black outfit, black mask, armed with a sword. I went after him, but he went thought the hallway window and escaped before I could get to him." Hunter's eyes were on Cam. "The way he moved, that sword...he was a ninja, Cam."

"That's not possible," Cam exclaimed. "There are no other Ninja schools apart from ours."

Hunter still had his eyes locked with Cam, his gaze worried now. "None that we know of."

Rapid footsteps were approaching them; the Wind Ninjas had arrived, lead by Dustin and Shane. Hunter quickly filled them in on all the events of the past half hour.

The search team returned empty-handed. Not a trace of the intruders had been found.

Hunter ordered double patrols and increased the number of night guards for the next few weeks, but other than that, there was not much more he could do.

 

**_Attack..._ **

_Swoosh-thunk._

The small sound penetrated Cam's sleep-tousled brain with relative ease, for he was a light sleeper.

 _When did Hunter get up?_ he wondered, not bothering to open his eyes. _And how did he manage that without waking me?_

Normally, Cam was roused every time Hunter left the bed, no matter how careful or quiet his companion tried to be.

 _No. Wait a minute._ Something was wrong. Hunter had fallen asleep with his hand curled around Cam's arm. That slight pressure was still there. Matter of fact, the entire warm body was still there, right next to him.

_Someone's in my room!_

Cam's eyes snapped open. Out of the blackness above him, two distinctively Asian eyes peered down on him. The rest of the head and face was swathed in a black scarf that covered all but those eyes, hard and cold as two stones on the bottom of a pond. Instinctively, Cam's arm shot upwards, but the eyes were already gone. He was out of bed in one fluid motion. Hunter jerked awake, startled by the sudden movement, but Cam was already halfway across the room, trying to keep a black-clad shadow from reaching the door. Cam lunged forward, trying to get a grip on the intruder's clothing, but the shadowy figure ducked and jabbed its elbow into Cam's solar plexus. The breath escaped from Cam's lungs in a puff. The intruder took this opportunity to yank open the door and disappear into the dim hallway.

Hunter, immediately alert, had shot up from the mattress as well, speeding after the shadowy figure, with Cam hard on his heels. Both men were dressed only in t-shirts and boxer shorts.

Cam's room was at the end of the hallway on the ground floor of the Teacher's Building.

The black-clad intruder was racing towards the building's entrance door. Hunter picked up his speed and lunged himself at the figure with a cry. His hands wrapped around the intruder's ankles, and they both went down onto the hard wooden floor with a heavy ' _Thud'_. The figure kicked out with his boot, missing Hunter's head by half an inch. The kick was immediately followed by a vicious stab at Hunter's wrist from a black-gloved hand embedded with sharp spikes, and Hunter released his grip on the figure's ankle with a yelp of pain.

The intruder was back on his feet with incredible swiftness, but was now facing a thoroughly ticked-off Cam standing in attack position, blocking the way toward the entrance door. "Care to explain what you are doing here?" he growled.

For a moment, the figure was sorely tempted to teach these boys a lesson, but this was neither the time nor the place, so he merely reached into a hidden pocket of his jacket and withdrew two shining objects. For a fraction of a second, Cam caught the glint of steel as the figure threw both objects towards him with lightening-quick flicks of his wrists. It all happened so fast that Cam's brain had no time to react, so reflexes took over. He bent his torso sharply backwards as the objects skittered over him. One of them was so close he could feel the hiss of air as it passed by his right ear. This move probably saved his life, but left his defenses open, and the figure in black took this advantage right away. He pivoted low and took Cam's legs out from under him with a powerful swipe. The moment Cam hit the ground, the figure leapt right over him and towards the entrance.

One of the steel objects had embedded itself into the doorframe, and he tore it loose while he yanked open the door and shot out into the night.

Hunter and Cam were right behind him, but the darkness had already swallowed the intruder.

From the Teacher's Building behind them, they could hear the voices of men. The senseis had been awoken from all the commotion. Lights came on, doors were being slammed.

Cam let out a deep, frustrated breath.

"It was the same guy, I'm sure." Hunter said quietly. Cam had already figured as much.

"Which means he's gone by now."

The two young men stared into the darkness a moment longer, then turned back towards the dormitory. But just as Cam turned his head, he saw a flash of light at the outermost periphery of his vision. He looked back sharply. "Did you see that?"

"See what?" Obviously, Hunter hadn't.

"That light." Cam kept staring into the darkness for a moment longer, then shook his head. "Nothing, probably." They went back into the Teacher's Building.

Inside, Cam's gaze fell onto the cleft left behind in the doorframe, and suddenly a thought tugged at his mind. The intruder had torn one of the metallic objects out of the frame, but he had thrown _two_! It took Cam only a minute to locate the other object lying on the hallway floor. It must have bounced off the wall. He picked it up and peered at it curiously.

It was a balmy night, so Cam knew that the cold shiver that now ran down his spine had nothing to do with the current temperature in the hallway.

In his hands he held a razor-sharp, eight-pronged _shuriken_ , a Ninja throwing star.

 

_**Questions...** _

Sensei Watanabe, Cam's father, was an emotional rock, but even he looked worried now.

"As you all know, the shuriken is a forbidden weapon at our academies," he addressed his former Rangers, who were crowding around him in the hallway, all still only partly dressed. The sensei, however, was wearing his full teaching robe, even though it was barely four o'clock in the morning. "There is a reason for this; the shuriken is the preferred weapon of the black ninja. Spies, thieves, assassins."

While he spoke, Sensei kept turning the metal star over and over in his hands. "These ninja are cold-blooded murderers, highly dangerous." He looked gravelly at the five young men and one young woman. "I do not know where these ninja are coming from, or what they are looking for, but we must all be very much on our guards."

His gaze fixed on to his son. "Cam, you will double all patrols, establish extra security measures..."

But Cam was staring right through his father. Sensei Watanabe's brows furrowed. "Cam, are you listening?"

Cam blinked, his gaze focusing on his father. "Yes, I heard you," he replied. "I was just thinking of something."

He nodded to Sensei. "We'll put both schools on a Level 1 Intruder Alert. But apart from that, there is something else I need to do."

He turned towards the rest of the gang. "Let's all get dressed, and then meet me at Ninja Ops, ok? I'll explain there." Then he turned abruptly and strode back towards his room, leaving his perplexed comrades standing in the hallway.

 

**_At Ninja Ops..._ **

Twenty minutes later, the entire ex-Ranger team was assembled in their old headquarters.

Cam had restored minimal power to the interior of the wrecked cave, so at least they had some light. But the bare bulbs hanging from the ceiling illuminated a sad picture; broken furniture, shattered equipment, large chunks of stones torn out of the walls.

Lothor and his nieces had been quite thorough in their destruction of Ninja Ops.

Cam stood in the middle of the trashed room, facing the entryway as he heard them approach through the tunnel. Moments later, they were all crowded around him.

"What's up, dude?" Dustin began. "Why you being all secretive, and stuff?"

"I'm not being secretive, Dustin," Cam replied. "But I've decided that there's something I need to do, and I can only do that here."

"Secretive _and_ cryptic," Blake shot Cam an inquisitive look, but Cam only made a downward motion with his hands. "Won't you all sit down; I've got to get something from the Zord Bay. Be right back."

"You need any help?" Hunter called after him, but Cam had already disappeared.

When he returned, he was carrying a long, rectangular box in his arms. He rejoined the others, who were sitting in a circle, placing the box in front of him. The other ex-Rangers leaned forward, peering curiously at the plain wooden crate while he removed the lid.

Inside were five long objects, each one wrapped in very familiar colors.

Cam looked up, observing his friends. Shane and Tori both had small, reminiscent smiles on their faces when they saw their colors. Blake was studying the objects intently, Hunter looked back and forth between Cam and the box with an inquiring gaze, and Dustin just looked confused.

Cam cleared his throat. "This was not the occasion that I had in mind to give these to you, but in light of the recent events, and because we don't know what exactly we are dealing with..."

Next to him, Hunter glanced at him, knowing he was talking about the mysterious flash of light, among other things.

"...I think that we need to prepare ourselves for any and all eventualities."

He reached into the box and drew out the first object. It was completely wrapped in a soft cloth of bright blue. Almost formally, he held it up with two hands and presented it across the lid to Tori. As soon as the former Blue Ranger felt the weight of the bundle in her hands, she knew what she was holding, and an astonished look came over her features. She made no move to unwrap the gift, however; waiting instead for the others to receive theirs. Cam was already picking up a second, bright yellow wrap, handing it to Dustin. He repeated the process three more times. Hunter was the last one to receive his crimson-wrapped packet.

Wordlessly, Cam nodded to his friends to unwrap their bundles.

They did, and for a moment, all five ex-Rangers were simply speechless. Each one of them was looking at his very own _bokken_ , a version of the wooden training swords used at both the Wind and Thunder Academies.

These swords, however, were of nothing less than exquisite workmanship. The dark wood of each 'blade' was polished to such a high gleam that it seemed to shine from within. The swords' hilts and grips had been tightly wrapped in two-toned nylon cord; black, -- and each Ranger's corresponding color.

Where the 'blade' met the hilt, each sword held the elemental crest of its owner, the intricate patterns carved into the wood with meticulous attention to detail.

Cam indulged himself in a feeling of pride when he saw the effect his gifts had on his friends. They all stared at their swords with expressions on their faces that ranged from amazement to downright wonder.

It had taken Cam almost a year to fashion these swords. With the Ranger powers gone and the Zord technology unusable, he had found that he needed to apply his restless energies and skills to another creative outlet. The results of that were now in the hands of his five awed friends. The _bokken_ were supposed to be Christmas presents, but since life had decided to replace Santa with a gang of hostile rival Ninjas, Christmas had to be moved up this year.

Swords made from steel would have been better, of course, but in the hands of skilled warriors, these _bokken_ were just as effective against dangerous enemies as any steel blade could ever be.

And Cam was presently surrounded by the most competent warriors he could think of.

The assembled Wind and Thunder senseis were slowly coming out of their reverie.

Tori was staring at Cam openmouthed. "Cam, this is..."

"Amazing!" Blake finished her sentence.

"Dude! Sweet!"

"Where did you get...?" Shane started.

"I made them." Cam replied modestly. That statement earned him some more incredulous looks, especially from the former yellow Ranger. "You _really_ made those yourself?"

 _Oh boy_. "Yes, Dustin. Myself."

Cam inclined his head towards Shane's sword. "I'm not a trained sword-maker, so steel was out of the question, but the wood of your blades was specially cured and treated to give it an ultra-hard density and greatly enhanced durability. I've also threaded the blades with high-energy, ionized plasium wires meant to channel your elemental powers throughout the entire weapon."

Hunter smirked. "About as close to our old Ranger swords as it'll get."

"Try it," Cam suggested, "but concentrate on your powers while you strike."

No further encouragement was needed. Hunter rose, took a quick look around the wrecked room and walked over to one of the few intact pieces of furniture still left in Ninja Ops: Cam's old desk chair.

"May I?" Hunter asked, his eyebrows arched.

"Knock yourself out."

Hunter took the sword in a two-handed grip and closed his eyes, focusing. A moment later, a few sparks could be seen racing along the blade. Abruptly, Hunter raised his arms, swinging the sword in a downward, semi-arch towards the chair. The blade never made contact, but bright lightning bolts shot from the weapon, and the chair was suddenly engulfed in crackling electricity and flung backwards into the stone wall with such ferocity that everyone could see the indentation there after it had fallen to the ground, smoldering.

Hunter was deeply impressed. "It's beautiful!"

What Hunter did next took Cam completely by surprise. The ex-Crimson Ranger rejoined the circle, knelt before him, sword clasped in both hands, and, slowly and solemnly, bowed low to his companion. "Thank you," he said formally. "You honor me greatly with this gift."

The rest of the Rangers were following suit, all bowing to Cam, their new weapons pressed tightly against them. _Were Tori's eyes getting misty?_

Taken aback and quite touched by their unexpected gesture, Cam wasn't sure how to react. He took another look around the circle of bowed torsos and did the only thing he could think of; he bowed back.

 

_**The second attack...** _

Several days later, Cam was leading his class in a karate _kata_ exercise on the main training plaza.

There had been no more disturbances since the incident with the ninja a few nights ago, but the ex-Rangers were all still sleeping with their new weapons next to their beds.

The sun stood high, it was hot, and Cam was glad that he had chosen to wear his light-weight cotton _sensei_ uniform instead of the heavy leather training suit.

From the stone bench a few feet behind him he could hear muffled exclamations from Shane and Hunter. Shane's class was next, and he had arrived early. Hunter had shown up early, too, but not for training. He and Cam had planned on catching a movie in Blue Bay Harbor after Cam's class. Now his two friends were waiting for him to finish the kata. They were passing the time engaged in, of all things, arm-wrestling.

"Is this all you got, man?" Shane's voice was mocking.

"Hey, unlike you, I don't have the time to go to the gym and bench-press 140 every day." Hunter retorted. "I've got classes to teach, bikes to race..."

"Ah, excuses. You're getting soft, Thunder. That's all."

"I'll show you who's soft..."

Cam closed his eyes and shook his head. _OK, that's it!_

He signaled his lead student to continue the exercise and stiffly walked over to the stone bench. "Do you mind, you two? I'm trying to teach a class here." He glared at Shane and Hunter with mock annoyance.

"What's wrong, Wind?" Hunter grinned. "Don't tell me your students' concentration can be broken that easily."

"With the kind of racket you two are making, yes." Cam pointed his finger at his partner. "And don't you belittle my students' concentration, _Thunder_. You would be just as distracted if I were to...oh, I don't know...swing from tree to tree while you are trying to instruct _your_ students, ok?"

"Oh, that depends," Hunter smiled mischievously. "Would you be dressed or naked while swinging?"

Next to him, Shane burst out laughing. Cam actually blushed and threw his hands up in the air, rolling his eyes exasperatedly.

The ambush happened so fast that none of them even had the time to be surprised.

Right before Cam's lead student, a bright light flashed in the air. Suddenly, several masked and black-clad figures were surrounding her and immediately proceeded to attack the students.

Shane's eyes grew wide in disbelief. A transporter portal!

The portal continued to spit out masked ninjas until there were at least two dozen of them. Cam's class was comprised of only ten first-year students.

From the way the figures attacked, the guys in black seemed to have graduated a while ago.

Ridiculous odds.

Nevertheless, Cam, Hunter and Shane wasted not one second as they hurled themselves at their closest attackers.

The last figure to step out of the portal did not immediately join the fight. He stood immobile, eyes scanning the chaos in front of him.

Then he spotted his target and moved.

Cam was too busy fighting off three attackers, kicking and punching in all directions, to notice the sudden presence behind him. Suddenly he felt himself being lifted off the ground. The next moment he was airborne, being flung towards the big oak tree that stood two feet away. He crashed into the massive trunk headfirst, rebounded, and dropped back down onto the ground. There he stayed, unmoving.

"CAM!" Hunter yelled. He took two steps towards him, but three attacking ninjas prevented him from reaching his partner. He fought them with all his might, but he couldn't get any closer.

Suddenly, a short, stocky figure was next to Cam's crumpled form, the same one that had thrown him. He grabbed Cam's limp body by the collar of his training uniform and issued a loud, guttural cry. Immediately, the rest of the black-clad ninjas broke off their attacks and retreated. A second later, all had disappeared into the portal.

And so had Cam and their leader.

"Cam!" Hunter cried again, running towards the tree where the portal was collapsing upon itself.

Too late. Hunter felt like his heart was being squeezed by an icy fist. "No," he whispered hoarsely. Then he saw a glint right in front of him.

Hunter bent down and picked up the object lying in the grass. Cam's glasses. The frame was bent, one of its lenses cracked. Hunter squeezed his eyes shut and clenched his jaw, struggling to suppress the furious scream building up inside him.


	2. Chapter 2

The first thing Cam became aware of was the pounding that seemed to invade his entire skull. Very slowly, he cracked open his eyes. A low ceiling made up of dark wood came into view. Cam moved his head a fraction of an inch, trying to take in as much of his surroundings as possible. He was lying on the bare wooden floor of what seemed to be a cottage. An open window let in rays of dull sunlight. A charcoal brazier sizzling a few feet away from him provided the only illumination; otherwise there seemed to be no other furniture in the room.

Suddenly there was movement next to his head, and a slender arm holding a cloth came into view. The cloth touched the side of his head, cool and wet. Cam looked up...and right into the beautiful face of a young Asian woman. She was dressed in a traditional kimono of vibrant orange with a pattern of falling leaves in red and green. Her glossy, raven-black hair was piled high on her head, held in place with two tasseled ivory combs. Her face was devoid of all make-up, yet it was impossible to judge her age; she could have been anywhere between fifteen and twenty-five.

 _Where am I?_ Cam thought, completely perplexed. _Did I get sucked back into the past again?_

The girl was not smiling, but Cam sensed no danger from her. She retrieved the cloth from his brow, and Cam could see streaks of red on the white material. Instinctively, he raised his hand to touch his laceration, but the girl put a hand over his, shaking her head wordlessly. Then she reached behind his neck, lifting his head from the floor while, with her other hand, she held a small cup up to his mouth, silently encouraging him to drink.

Still too dazed to think clearly, he simply followed her quiet orders. Green tea. The hot liquid was bitter, but not unpleasant.

"You are a pathetic excuse for a ninja sensei," a raspy voice suddenly sounded from behind him. Definitely _not_ feminine.

Startled, Cam reflexively turned his head towards the voice, causing new pain to explode from his temples. He grimaced while the disembodied voice continued to speak.

"You are Cam Watanabe." It was a statement, not a question, but had it been, Cam would have had no intentions of affirming it. Something strange about this voice, though...

Then it hit him: The voice was speaking in Japanese.

"What?" Cam croaked, his voice hoarse from the lingering headache.

"You heard me," the voice replied, closer now. Suddenly, a shadow fell over Cam and a man walked into the periphery of his vision. From his short and stocky frame, Cam recognized him as the leader of the attackers on the school. He had taken off the black cloth that had covered his head and face earlier, and now Cam was staring into the weather-beaten visage of a Japanese man, about the age of his own father. His short, black hair was liberally streaked with grey and his only facial hair was a few thin, almost unperceivable strands hanging from a prominent chin. The same hard, black eyes from the other night were staring at Cam unblinkingly. The aura of authority surrounding the ninja was almost tangible, and Cam instinctively knew that this was a highly dangerous man.

With a wordless grunt and a quick jerk of his head, the older man ordered the girl out of the room. She immediately rose from Cam's side, gathered up the teacup and cloth, and left the room without looking back.

"Where am I? And who are you?" Cam asked in English while, very carefully, trying to sit up. He was fluent in Japanese, but he'd be damned if he conceded to speaking it to his captor.

The black ninja did not respond right away, but instead seemed to study the young man on the floor before him with interest. "It is highly impolite to ask these questions without first introducing yourself."

Cam looked up at the black-clad stranger. "Sounded to me like you had already safely established my identity a moment ago."

A hint of amusement played over the stranger's hard features. He continued to stare down at Cam for another moment. "I am Kozuhiro Kinaga, supreme leader of the Tiger Claw Clan," he continued their strange, bilingual conversation.

His name meant absolutely nothing to Cam, but 'Tiger Claw Clan' stirred a faint memory in the very back of his aching head, hovering just out of reach...

Cam finished pulling himself into a sitting position. A thousand questions were crying for answers inside his head, but first things first, because right now he was pretty pissed off.

"Has anybody ever told you that it's also highly impolite to launch unprovoked attacks onto the Thunder and Wind Academies, beat up my students, and take me from my home against my will?" he snarled at Kinaga, but the older ninja merely grunted.

He crouched down before Cam, sitting back on his heels. "A justifiable necessity."

" _Justifiable necessity?"_ Cam echoed incredulously. "Necessary for what...?" Cam let his voice trail off. As much as the former Green Ranger wanted answers, something had just caught his eye. Now that Kinaga was at eye level with him, Cam could see a sheathed dagger fastened to the ninja's belt. His chance...

Although he was in less than the perfect attack position, Cam lunged for the weapon, but the older ninja barely moved as he effortlessly batted away his hand. Cam's foot shot out, aiming for the Japanese man's head, but before it could make contact, Kinaga had already caught his leg, twisting it sideways. Cam grunted in surprise, and the next second the older ninja was hovering over him, Cam's leg tugged under his arm in a vice-like grip, his elbow poised right above the ex-Ranger's trapped knee.

"You fool," Kinaga hissed, "your eyes gave you away long before you even made that stupid move." He glared at Cam intently. "It would take me about half a second to pulverize your kneecap right now, but I don't like to return _damaged_ goods."

The elderly ninja looked almost disappointed. "You still have much to learn. Not to mention the fact that you never would have made it out of this room anyways."

With a disgusted exclamation, Kinaga suddenly let go of him and snapped his fingers. Immediately, the deep shadows on each side of the cottage's entrance door came alive, and two equally black-clad figures materialized out of the corners. They were upon Cam with unbelievable speed, each grabbing one of his arms, lifting him off the ground and slamming him backwards against the cottage wall. The fresh wave of pain in his head had him tethered on the brink of unconsciousness for a moment. Within a fraction of a second, it seemed, he found himself sitting once again on the floor with his back to the wall. On either side of him, a few inches above his head, two iron rings were imbedded into the timber of the wall. A short leather cord was dangling from each ring. The ninjas grabbed Cam's arms and tightly wrapped the cords around his wrists, securely tying him to the wall while Kinaga watched impassively.

Their work done, the ninjas retreated back to their stations by the door, leaving Kinaga and Cam to stare at each other. With an enraged growl, Cam yanked at the cords, confusion, headache, anger, all threatening to coalesce into a dangerous stew of emotions.

"Just what do you _want_ from me?" he spat at the Tiger Claw ninja.

The dead, black eyes never wavered from his face. "From you, nothing," the older man replied. "But your father and I have unfinished business."

"My father...?" Cam was taken aback by this answer, genuinely surprised now. "What are you talking about?"

Instead of answering, Kinaga turned his head towards the window, watching as a sudden gust of wind tugged at the branches of the spruce tree outside the cottage. A thoughtful look had come over his leathery features; then, apparently, he made up his mind and once again locked eyes with his captive. "Quite some time ago, I rendered a valuable service to a member of your family. He gave me his solemn word that I would receive ample compensation after his master plan had been successfully implemented. Unfortunately, in the end, it wasn't meant to be." Kinaga was still watching Cam. "I believe you know who I am referring to."

And Cam did know. Didn't want it to be true, but couldn't deny it in light of all the now obvious evidence. He knew of only one person with a 'master plan' that had resulted in failure...the ultimate failure of now being stuck in the Abyss of Evil for all eternity. And then there was the portal technology Kinaga undoubtedly could have obtained from only this one particular person... "Lothor!" Cam's whispered the hated name.

Suddenly, for the first time, there was a spark of emotion in Kinaga's onyx eyes;

Utter contempt.

He balled his gloved fist. "He used me and the resources only _I_ could provide him with, leaving me with nothing to show for it." The leather fist was now uncomfortably close to Cam's face. "But a deal is a deal, and since Lothor cannot be held accountable for his liabilities anymore, the debt has now passed on to his nearest family member."

Cam ignored the hovering fist. "My father has absolutely no obligations towards any deals Lothor ever made with anyone," he said firmly.

Kinaga's slanted eyes narrowed to mere slits. "Unfortunately for you, I don't quite see it that way."

"Just what resources did you provide him with, anyway?" Cam inquired.

At that, a complacent look came over Kinaga's face. "Where do you think Lothor's Kelzak Furies came from?" The ninja once again countered a question with a question.

Cam's forehead furrowed. " _Kelzaks?_ They were Lothor's and Beevil's manufactured abominations. What do they have to do...?"

Kinaga cut him off. "Where do you think they learned their fighting skills? Who do you think Lothor modeled them after?" It was a rhetorical question.

"I provided him with dozens of test subjects from the ranks of my best ninja students," he continued, his sandpapery voice hoarse with anger. "By the time he finally constructed the perfect Kelzak Furies, he had used up almost fifty of my men, and I expect to be fully compensated for these losses. One way or another. And this is now your father's obligation; the honor of your family demands it."

Kinaga sat back on his heels, smiling grimly at the shocked expression on the young man's face before him.

Cam couldn't believe what he had just heard, let alone stomach it.

But he knew Lothor was evil enough to use human beings as his proverbial guinea pigs to experiment on. To prod and to probe them until he finally figured out how to acquire their skills and strengths, then use this knowledge, ripped from suffering minds and bodies, to program the Kelzak Furies. Yes, his uncle was capable of that.

But how evil did a _human_ have to be to let these atrocities happen to his own men, and then to care about nothing else but the payment he thought he deserved?

Bile rose in Cam's throat, and for a few moments, he had to concentrate only on his breathing; otherwise he would surely have expectorated his disgust right over his kidnapper's boots.

"It's not gonna work, Kinaga," Cam said through clenched teeth, for he now finally knew where this was going. "You won't be able to force my father into honoring Lothor's debts, with or without me. Besides, Lothor has ceased being family a long time ago."

Seemingly untouched by his captive's animosity, Kozuhiro Kinaga rose, only to look down on Cam indifferently.

"Tell me, Cam Watanabe, are you familiar with Miyamoto Musashi's 'Go-Rin-No-Sho'?"

 _What is it with these unexpected questions?_ Cam thought, irritated.

Of course he was familiar with Musashi's 'Book of Five Rings'. It was a masterpiece of both physical and psychological warfare, written by 14th century Japan's most famed swordsman. Every self-respecting samurai studied this book, and Cam's own copy was well worn and book-marked. _Where is he going with this?_

"I've heard of it," he replied vaguely.

But Kinaga was not fooled. "Then you will remember what Musashi said about the most effective way to fight a distant enemy." He fixed Cam with another cold stare. "If you cannot attack your enemy's body on the battlefield, shift strategies, and instead attack his mind and heart. And that is exactly what I'm planning to do."

Suddenly, in one blurry motion, Kinaga was on him, and with a vicious jerk, ripped Cam's sensei badge off his uniform jacket. He held it up for a moment, as if to inspect it, then looked back at Cam.

"I believe your father will comply," he said with a smirk. Then he turned and, without another word, left the cottage, still clutching the cloth badge.

Watching him go, Cam desperately fought off the impending sense of horrible premonition threatening to make him sick again. _If I could only get out of these_...He gave his bonds a few more half-hearted tugs. They held, of course. Not that he had expected otherwise.

But even if he were able to free himself, there was still the ninja guard by the door to be dealt with, plus Cam had no idea where he actually was, other than in enemy territory.

With an exasperated sigh, Cam closed his eyes, resting his head back against the wall. It was still aching, but this time more from all the inconceivable and disgusting things he had been told by this human monster. He also hated the helpless situation he presently found himself in.

' _God, I am so sick of getting tied up,'_ he mumbled.

First by CyberCam in the closet in Ninja Ops, then by Lothor on his ship, now here...

This was really getting old.

 

**_Meanwhile..._ **

The tension in Ninja Ops was stifling.

Hunter was pacing furiously, while the rest of the Wind Ninjas and Blake had simply plopped onto the floor, dispirited.

"I don't get it, I simply don't get it," Dustin kept saying, as if reciting a mantra. "You said you guys saw a transporter portal, right? But how can that be?" The former Earth Power Ranger looked at Shane. "Wouldn't that mean that Lothor's back?"

"I don't think so," Shane shook his head. "Sensei would have known if he was. He would have...felt him, or something."

"Well, now at least we know how those ninjas got onto the Thunder and Wind academy grounds a few nights ago." Tori concluded.

"Yeah, but if Lothor's still in the Abyss, where did they get the portal technology from?" Dustin kept pressing to no one in particular.

Suddenly, Hunter whirled around. "I could care less about where they got the technology from. I just want to get Cam back from wherever he is! And I'm so ready to kick some serious butt at the same time." The ex-Crimson Ranger looked mad as hell, but the others knew that this was simply his way of masking his concern for his partner.

"You, and all of us, bro." Blake assured his brother.

"But why Cam?" Tori wondered out loud. "What do they want with him?"

"I don't know," Hunter spoke up. "But I'm pretty sure that this wasn't a coincidence."

"What do you mean?" Shane frowned.

"Think about it, man," Hunter continued. "That fight, it all seemed so...staged. And then the intruder in Cam's room a few nights before." The Thunder Ninja's face was grave. "I think Cam was targeted. It was _him_ specifically they were looking for."

"But what about the attack on the Thunder Academy?" Blake countered.

His brother shrugged. "Maybe a diversion, who knows? Or maybe they just didn't know which school to search for him first."

A deadly quiet filled Ninja Ops as the ex-Rangers pondered this possibility.

After a while, Tori broke the silence. "So, anyone have an idea as to what our next move should be?"

She was rewarded with only more silence.

"We need help, guys." Shane finally said quietly.

"Who could possibly help us, Shane?" Blake said, subdued. "The only way to get to Cam seems to be through that portal, and the only one who knows anything about portal technology _is_ Cam."

At this, Hunter's head suddenly snapped around and he fixed his brother with a wide-eyed stare. "What did you just say?"

Blake frowned at the older Bradley's strange expression. "I said the only one..."

But Hunter was already next to him, his hand on his shoulder. "Bro, you're a genius."

And he turned and ran towards the stairway.

The rest of the gang was staring at him, thoroughly perplexed. "Hey, where you goin'?" Blake called after him. Hunter whirled around. "There _is_ someone else who can help, and you just reminded me of him. Stay here, y'all, I'll be right back."

And he was, just a few minutes later, carrying Cam's laptop under his arm.

He put it down on what was left of Ninja Ops' command table. While it booted up, Hunter explained, "Cam spent the last few months repairing CyberCam's program. Two nights ago, he was literally a click away from re-activating him. I think that, with all the time I've spent watching him fiddling with this program, I should be able to activate him myself now."

Shane scratched his head. "But if Cam was so close to activating CyberCam, why didn't he do it?"

Hunter would not look up. "He, uumm, got a little distracted."

"By what?" Dustin asked confused.

"More like...by whom?" Blake gave Hunter a knowing grin.

Hunter wouldn't meet anyone's eyes, but he grinned into the laptop screen.

"So, _you_ know how to activate CyberCam?" Blake eyed his brother skeptically.

Hunter made a show of lacing his fingers together and cracking them.

"Cam owes me hours of watching me race on the track for this, believe me," he mumbled.

The others actually cracked a couple of smiles at that.

"All right," Hunter sighed, fingers poised above the keyboard. "Let's let genie out of his bottle."

He thought for a second, then tapped several commands into the laptop, and a moment later, CyberCam materialized next to the desk, wearing his customary silly hat and goofy grin.

"Hey, hey, hey, whazzup, dawgs? Whazzup, T.?"

Tori genuinely grinned for the first time in days. "Good to see you, CyberCam."

"Yo, whatcha doing at Cam's laptop?" CyberCam asked Hunter. "Speaking of, where _is_ my main man C.?" The hologram looked around searchingly. His brows furrowed at the dismayed looks on everyone's faces. "What happened?" he asked, suddenly worried.

The ex-Rangers took turns filling him in on all the happenings of the past few days.

"Mega-bummer, dudes!" Cam's holographic twin exclaimed. "And how can there even _be_ a teleportation portal? Lothor's gone!"

Hunter shrugged. "Baffles us as much as you."

CyberCam looked into the round. "So what're you gonna do?"

"Well, that's where you come in," Shane explained. "We were hoping _you_ had any ideas or theories about this portal, because, frankly, none of us do."

CyberCam was quiet for a long time, thinking intently. Finally he spoke. "You said all this happened a couple of hours ago?"

He frowned at the nods all around. "Damn! Too late, then."

"Too late for what?" Blake wanted to know.

"To scan for ionic carbon particle residue, of course." He looked at the uncomprehending faces around him and sighed. "Never mind, it's a Cam-thing, I guess."

"OK, that was, like, way too Star Trek-ish for me," Dustin said. "English, please, dude?"

CyberCam made a show of more sighs and eye-rolling. "Back when Lothor was still bugging us, Cam and I constructed a scanner able to detect the ionic carbon particle residue trail of his teleportation portals. We hardly got to use it, though. You guys kicked his butt into the abyss before we had a chance to scan anything properly."

"That scanner won't do us no good anyways," Shane said downheartedly. "What we need is a remote control to re-open that transporter portal."

"Oh, we've got that," CyberCam said nonchalantly. "It's just not working."

That statement landed him wide-eyed stares from the rest of the gang.

"A remote control." Hunter said, highly skeptical. "You have one of Lothor's transporter controls."

CyberCam seemed surprised at the question. "Yeah."

"But, like, I don't get it. How...?" Dustin began.

"From Mara, or Kapri. I don't remember which one of those airheads."

The 'airhead' landed him a dirty look from Dustin.

"...I guess that, once Lothor was gone, they didn't know what to do with theirs anymore, so when they joined the academy, they gave it to Cam," the hologram finished.

"But you said it wasn't working." Blake reminded him.

"I said once Lothor was gone, there was nothing left to scan. For the remote control to work, it needs to be programmed with the proper wavelengths of the portal."

"And you could get the wavelength coordinates from the ionic particle residue," Tori concluded the trail of thought, her eyes going wide.

"Bingo." CyberCam nodded.

Shane didn't join the enthusiasm. "But how long after a portal has closed can you scan for that residue?"

CyberCam looked unsure. "A minute, maybe two. That stuff dissipates pretty fast."

"So much for that idea, then." A frustrated Hunter raked his hands through his hair.

"So, are we back to square one?" Dustin asked.

A collective sigh rose from the assembled Rangers.

"Isn't there anything you can do, Cam?" Tori said pleadingly.

The hologram stared at the laptop screen as if deep in thought. Then he turned to Tori.

"I'll think of something," he assured her somberly. "I promise."

 

**_Cam..._ **

Cam's shoulders were on fire. Forced to keep his arms above his head, he felt like they were lead weights, which was contrary to the almost non-existent feeling in his hands and wrists.

From the way the last rays of sunlight fell into the room through the open window, he deduced that he had been strapped to the wall for the past six hours or so. He once again shifted uncomfortably, trying in vain to find a position to alleviate the pain. At least his headache was better, though. As a matter of fact, he hadn't felt the pounding in his temples for quite a while now.

Wincing, he rolled his shoulders and immediately, the ninja sitting immobile by the entrance door looked up. Cam had not been unguarded for a moment since his involuntary arrival.

The doors of the cottage opened, and another black-clad and masked figure entered the room. ' _Changing Of The Guards,'_ Cam thought sarcastically, _'I'd rather be watching that at Buckingham Palace right now.'_

As soon as the first guard left, the second took his place in the exact same spot. Less than two minutes later, however, the figure rose again and approached Cam, kneeling directly in front of him. Cam lifted his head to meet the guard's gaze...and found himself looking into two oblique, feminine eyes. The figure tugged on the headscarf covering her mouth and nose, and the face revealed was that of the girl who had served him tea a few hours ago. Cam blinked in surprise, but the girl gave him a slight smile, reached into her jacket and withdrew a small vial.

"I know you are in pain, Watanabe-san," she said, her voice quiet and musical. She held up the vial. "This will help." She unstopped the container and shook it slightly. A creamy liquid flowed into her palms, and she rubbed it several times in her hands before she reached for Cam. But he jerked away from her touch, eyeing her suspiciously.

The girl's hands froze in midair and she looked at him intently.

"I have seen men tied to this wall for days at a time, Watanabe-san. I do not know how long my father intends on keeping you here, but it will be as long as he deems it necessary. The pain will only get worse."

 _Kinaga's daughter!_ Cam watched the young woman wordlessly, contemplating her words, and after a moment she reached for him again. This time he did not pull away, and her warm hands slid into his uniform jacket and proceeded to gently massage the cream into his shoulders. When she was finished, she tugged on his jacket lapels, re-closing them carefully over his chest. The salve's effect was almost instant and Cam's muscles started to numb to the pain.

Cam closed his eyes for a moment, savoring the relief. "Thank you," he muttered.

The girl inclined her head wordlessly in acknowledgement.

When Cam opened his eyes again, he looked directly at her. "You have me at a disadvantage," he said, "you know my name, but I don't know yours."

At this, the girl looked at him uncomprehendingly. Unlike her father, she did not seem to understand English.

Cam sighed inwardly, and repeated his question in flawless Japanese.

The girl looked hesitant for a moment. "I am Aikiko," she said almost reluctantly.

"Is your head feeling better?" she asked suddenly, seemingly eager to change the subject. When Cam nodded, she seemed pleased. "Good. The herbs have been effective, then."

 _The tea..._ "Why are you doing all this?" he inquired.

"My father's sense of hospitality leaves many things to be desired, I'm afraid," she replied earnestly. "I cannot change this, but I can try to improve upon it."

"Would _your_ sense of hospitality also include answering a few questions?" he asked carefully.

She gave him that intent look again. "That depends," she said cautiously.

"Where am I?"

Aikiko took a minute, as if she had to make up her mind as to how much she could tell him. "You are inside the Tiger Claw Ninja _ryu_ , my father's school, located at the northernmost tip of the Aomori Prefecture on Honshu Island." She gave him _that_ look again. "And if you expect to be discovered here, then I must disappoint you. This is a most secretive location. No outsiders have ever been able to find this school."

One of Cam's dark premonitions had just been proven right. He actually _was_ in Japan. But if alien technology was able to transport from Earth into outer space, then why shouldn't it be able to transport anywhere _on_ Earth?

He nevertheless held her steady gaze. "My friends will find a way."

Aikiko made no reply; instead she busied herself with re-stopping the vial and tugging it back into her jacket.

Sensing that she was getting ready to leave, Cam was frantically thinking of a way of delaying her departure. He had many more questions for her.

"You know, you really haven't answered my earlier question," he said quickly. At her quizzical look he continued, "The tea, the salve...why are you doing all this?"

Aikiko exhaled heavily. But instead of answering his question, she countered with one of her own. "Have you ever loved, Watanabe-san," she said in her quiet way, "purely and completely, with your heart, body and soul?"

He was surprised at this unexpected question, but surprised himself even more with his spontaneous answer. "I do right now."

"Then you are lucky, because, if all goes well, you will return to your love." She looked down onto her folded hands in her lap. "But mine will never walk these grounds again."

Cam peered at her curiously. What Aikiko had just disclosed to him was quite a revelation. To her he was, after all, only a stranger; probably even an enemy. Or at least her father thought so. He sensed that there was more to this story, and if he were Dustin or Shane, he probably would have just blurted out _'so what happened to him?'_ but since he was Eastern, he had to go about this a bit subtler. And suddenly, it hit him.

"Those ninjas your father sent to Lothor...you knew them?"

"Some of them," she said quietly, not meeting his eyes.

"One of them in particular, maybe?" he pressed carefully.

Now her voice was a mere whisper. "Maybe."

So there it was!

Aikiko sighed again. "My father was wrong to make this deal with the Evil One. He sent his own students to their certain death!" She hung her head. "Including Koichi."

The cottage was silent for a moment while Cam waited for her to continue.

"We were so careful to conceal our love, but somehow _He_ found out about us anyway."

Aikiko looked everywhere but at Cam. "And when the Evil One walked through that flash of light to pick up the men he had been promised, Koichi was one of the first he took."

"But why was your father so against the two of you?" Cam asked.

Aikiko's eyes were misty. "My father never liked Koichi. He is used to absolute obedience from his ninjas. But Koichi was rebellious, even dared to question one of his orders once. If it hadn't been for the fact that Koichi was one of his best students, my father would have expelled him long ago. But then, when he showed an interest in me..." Aikiko let the sentence trail off.

Cam genuinely felt for her. And then, out of the blue, there was a need to say something, anything, comforting to her. Here he was, kidnapped by her father, tied to a wall, tired and aching, awaiting to be ransomed, and all that was currently on his mind was to find the right words to properly comfort her because of her devastating loss at the hands of that same man.

 _That would make us kindred souls, in a way_ , Cam thought. He opened his mouth, but Aikiko was already talking again. "Watanabe-san, I cannot go against my father, but I also cannot let him be rewarded for Koichi's and all the other ninjas' deaths. There is family loyalty, but then there is "

Cam had the distinct feeling she was trying to tell him something. He decided to make it easy for her. "Aikiko, will you help me get out of here?"

But Aikiko did not answer, and so, in the impending darkness of twilight, two pairs of almond eyes were silently looking at one another.

 

**_Back at The Wind Academy..._ **

Shane was walking alone along the perimeter of the training plaza. He was so absorbed in his thoughts, mulling over the events of the past twenty-four hours, that he failed to notice the whirring noise speeding towards him.

Suddenly, a black arrow struck the ground directly in front of him, with a tightly rolled sheet of paper tied to its shaft. Shane's reaction was purely instinctive; he jumped sideways, rolled over his right shoulder and immediately shot back up, poised in attack stance. He looked around intently until he caught sight of a black-clad figure standing high up on _his_ ledge, of all places.

Shouldering his bow, the ninja turned and quickly disappeared from sight.

Shane's mind was going into overdrive. _Black Ninja. A portal!_

He took two steps towards the retreating archer, then stopped suddenly.

' _A minute, maybe two. That stuff dissipates pretty fast,'_ he heard CyberCam's voice in his mind.

 _The particle residue trail!_ Shane turned, ripped the arrow out of the ground and, with speed worthy of his element, he raced towards the Teachers' Building.

He yanked open Cam's door and burst into the room, where CyberCam was running diagnostics on the laptop. The hologram looked startled at his sudden appearance.

"Hey, what's going...?"

"The scanner?" Shane panted.

CyberCam held up a Y-shaped device. "Right here."

Shane was already next to the desk. Knowing from Hunter that CyberCam could not yet function independently from the laptop, he snapped the portable computer shut and tugged it under his arm. "Come on, we've got stuff to scan."

And he shot back out of the room, across the training plaza and towards the high rocky ledge.

CyberCam, being a hologram, matched his speed effortlessly.

They made it up to Shane's lookout spot in record time. There were no signs of the ninja anymore, of course. But he was not what Shane was looking for anyway.

"Right here," he gasped between breaths, waving his hands vaguely. "Scan. Quick."

CyberCam immediately activated the scanner and went to work. "I take it you saw a portal?" he asked Shane while waving the scanner in all directions.

"Yeah. Or at least the ninja who came through it." Shane held up the arrow he was clutching. CyberCam nodded in acknowledgement and turned his attention back to scanning the area. While the hologram was busy, Shane carefully untied the paper from the arrow shaft. As he unrolled it, a round piece of cloth fell into his palm. He instantly recognized Cam's samurai symbol stitched onto the badge.

The message on the paper was written in Japanese kanji, and unfortunately Shane was not versed well enough to decipher its contents entirely, but it was obviously not _Cam_ who had written this.

"All right!" came the enthusiastic voice of CyberCam from a few feet away. Shane looked up to see Cam's twin hurrying towards him. "Awesome timing, dude." CyberCam grinned.

"Did you get any readings? Was there enough left?" Shane asked eagerly.

The hologram held up the scanner. "Yeah, man, I think I can calculate the coordinates with what I got here." CyberCam took the portable computer and tugged it under his arm. "I'm gonna head back to Cam's room and get right on it. I'll call you as soon as I have results."

Daring to feel a glimmer of hope despite the unknown contents of the message, Shane rolled the sheet of paper back up. "And I'll get this to Sensei."


	3. Chapter 3

Shane watched Sensei's face while he read the message, and before his eyes, his old teacher seemed to age ten years. The clump of ice in Shane's gut doubled in size. "What's it say, Sensei?" he asked anxiously.

Sensei Watanabe lowered the paper and stared at his son's badge clutched in his hand. "It's essentially a ransom note, Shane." He pointed towards the bottom of the paper, where a seal was pressed into a dollop of orange wax. "It's signed by Kozuhiro Kinaga, head of the Tiger Claw Ninja clan, the most infamous band of ninjas in all of Japan."

"Japan?" Shane echoed. "Then what are they doing in these parts?"

"Actually, since they are employing portal technology, I do not believe that they are anywhere in this area at all." Sensei replied.

 _Cam's in Japan!_ The icy chunk just grew to glacier proportions. "What are they asking for, Sensei?"

Sensei met his former student's eyes. "Gold. And quite a significant sum."

The old teacher turned back towards the note. "The provided explanation is very vague. According to this, the gold is supposed to be payment for 'services rendered' to Lothor."

"Lothor!?" Shane cried, and Sensei couldn't tell whether it was a question or an exclamation.

"Sensei, Lothor isn't back, is he?"

Sensei shook his head. "No, I have not felt the ripples of Evil since your final battle. I believe that he is still very much stuck in the Abyss. Nevertheless, this note is very puzzling." Sensei looked out the window of his chambers into the tiny Zen garden below. "I have until tomorrow. Kinaga will collect payment himself, although the message does not specify where or when."

Shane's face was intent. "Well, if everything goes right, we might just be able to _collect Cam_ before then."

Now it was Sensei's turn to look puzzled, and Shane brought him up to speed about CyberCam's scans up on the ledge. A spark of hope lit up in Sensei Watanabe's eyes.

"Shane, you have demonstrated excellent presence of mind when you got CyberCam and the scanner instead of going after the messenger." Sensei clasped his former student firmly on the shoulder. "I am very grateful to you."

Sensei normally didn't dish out praise like that, and if Shane's skin tone had been a little lighter, his former teacher would have clearly seen the blush on his face.

"Let's just hope that CyberCam can extract enough information from the scans," he added.

As if on cue, Shane's cell phone rang.

"Dude," CyberCam's voice sounded thrilled. "Score! I just finished programming the remote control and I'm pretty sure it's gonna work! I've already called the others. They are on the way. Get your sword; we'll meet you at the training plaza, bro!"

After the second ninja attack and Cam's abduction, the former Rangers had agreed to carry their cell phones on them at all times, should the need for a quick move arise. And now it looked like that time had come.

With a big grin on his face Shane told Sensei the good news. His old teacher picked up his staff. "I'll be going with you."

"To the training plaza?"

"To wherever the portal takes us, my son." Sensei replied firmly.

Shane knew better than to argue.

 

**_The other side of the portal..._ **

Dawn was just pushing itself over the mountaintops when a lone figure in a russet kimono was walking along the dirt path towards her small herb garden. Aikiko was always up before her father, mainly because of the fact that she was responsible for preparing his breakfast. His morning meal was presently not on her mind, though. She was on her way to pick the herbs required to make more of the pain-numbing salve for Watanabe-san. Thinking of him also reminded her yet again of their secret conversation the night before. She had not answered his question, had not committed herself to any actions. But she had thought about it for the rest of the night.

As long as she could remember, Aikiko had been afraid of her father. It was the power he wielded as the leader of the Tiger Claw Ninjas, the most feared of all Ninja clans in Japan, as well as his incredible strength of body and mind. Not to mention the ever-present dark aura that surrounded him.

She was able to pinpoint the exact time when her feelings towards her father had turned to hate. It was the day he knowingly sent Koichi to his certain death when the Evil One arrived to take the test subjects back to...wherever it was he took them.

Kozuhiro Kinaga had known about the feelings his daughter had for his student, and he had not approved of them. The Evil One had thus provided the perfect opportunity for him to get rid of the unwanted suitor, short of killing him himself.

And Aikiko had had no choice but to accept her fate. It was her duty. The duty any good daughter had towards her father. This way of thinking might have been almost extinct in modern Japanese society, but modern-day Japan had not made it up the mountains of Honshu and to the Tiger Claw Ninja School yet.

The sudden flash of light just off to her right took her by surprise. _'Has Father sent out_ _more ninjas? What for?'_ But the figures emerging from the portal, though dressed completely in black, were not members of the Tiger Claw Clan.

Growing up in a secluded, secret school high in the Japanese mountains, Aikiko had not met many Westerners in her life. Therefore the five men and one woman who were now staring at her were the strangest-looking little group Aikiko had ever seen.

She felt no fear at their sudden appearance. As a matter of fact, the moment she saw that they were not of her father's clan, she knew why they were here.

They must be the friends Watanabe-san was talking about.

Aikiko made up her mind in an instant. Her head whipped around in all directions, checking if anyone had caught the arrival of the outsiders, but as far as she could tell, she was alone. Nevertheless, she took rapid steps towards the strangers, waving her hands to indicate them to move backwards into the bushes behind them.

Once safely tucked away behind the concealing shrubbery, Aikiko took the initiative. "You are here for Watanabe-san, aren't you?" she asked, but only the older Asian man seemed to understand her. "My son," he said, straight to the point. "where is he?"

Aikiko looked around the little group. They all had their bokken drawn, eying her suspiciously with frowns on their faces. _But how could it be any different?_ she thought.

She addressed the older man again. "I will take you to him."

The yellow-haired young man next to Cam's father, quite possible the tallest person she had ever seen, suddenly reached out and wrapped his fingers around her upper arm. Not hard, just enough to get her attention. He looked at her with his strange azure eyes, and said a single word. "Cam."

And Aikiko clearly heard the underlying flood of emotions streaming from this one word. She had no telepathic abilities, but it nevertheless drenched her mind as thoroughly as standing under a waterfall would have soaked her body.

Parts of a hushed conversation, only a few hours old, rushed back to her.

" _Have you ever loved, Watanabe-san, purely and completely, with your heart, body and soul?"_

" _I do right now."_

Aikiko had not the slightest doubt that that love had just been given a face. With bright blue eyes. This neither surprised nor shocked Aikiko; another side effect of growing up in an institution women were forbidden to attend. At the Tiger Claw school, only Kozuhiro Kinaga's status as supreme leader had allowed him to keep his daughter by his side after the death of his wife, and throughout her life here she had become fully used to the sight of clandestine unions between many of the exclusively male students. True, it was forbidden, but was practised nevertheless.

She hesitated for only a moment, before she raised her arm and pointed wordlessly towards a small building a few yards away, standing by itself at the top of a slight incline.

Hunter scrutinized the girl's face before him, but he could detect no sign of treachery in her open and unguarded gaze. Finally he nodded to her and gave her arm a quick, grateful squeeze. He turned to Sensei and the others. "I'm going to get him. Watch my back."

Aikiko's voice stopped him. Musical, yet intent, she spoke quickly.

"She says there is one guard inside the cottage, just to the left of the entrance door," Sensei translated.

"Got it," Hunter replied and locked eyes with Aikiko once more. "Arigato." _Thank you._

Then he was gone so fast that Aikiko was left wondering if he had actually ever been there at all.

 

**_The cottage..._ **

Cam once again jerked out of a fitful doze. Despite Aikiko's salve, he was once again aching all over, and between the pain and his forced upright position, there was no way he could do more than catch a few minutes of semi-sleep at a time. Fragments of dreams still clung to his mind: Lothor walking across the deserted SuperCross field, his entire Evil Army behind him... Tori and Blake smiling at each other, dancing at their wedding reception...Hunter's face hovering above him, eyes bright, face flushed with passion...

Through half-closed eyes he saw the cottage's door open. A figure, black against the dark outlines of the approaching dawn behind him, stood in the doorway. But instead of silently stepping inside to relieve his fellow ninja kneeling by the door of his guard duty, the figure reached out, and, quick as a flash, threw a few punches at the guard's head. The ninja slumped forward, unconscious.

The dark figure was already moving towards him, but Cam's overtired brain couldn't make sense of what had just happened. _'Aikiko'_ was the only name that came into his mind.

Had she decided to help him escape after all?

Then the figure knelt before him. Black leather clothes, blond head, beautifully familiar face, and for a moment Cam had the feeling that he was hallucinating. But the warm, calloused palm against his cheek was definitely real. And so was the voice. "Cam, can you hear me? Open your eyes. Focus, baby."

Cam willed his eyes to open all the way. "Hunter?" His partner's presence here seemed like

a mirage to him.

Hunter was grinning now. "You are such a damsel in distress, you know that?"

"WHAT?" That remark ridded Cam of the last lingering remnants of sleep.

"Well, it's true!" Hunter shrugged, "This is the second time in less than a year that I've had to rescue you. First from Lothor's ship, now from here..."

Cam rolled his eyes. "I don't know how you got here, but...just get me out of these, please." He yanked on the leather cords.

Hunter fumbled with the bonds. "Not just me; the entire gang is outside. Jeez, what kind of Gordian knots are those?" Suddenly he grinned mischievously. "You know, this gives me an idea..."  
"...which I'm so gonna make you regret, if you voice it." Cam growled dangerously.

Hunter just looked smug.

A sudden noise outside the cottage made him turn his head sharply. The sounds of weapons clashing, grunts and other exclamations of physical combat. A cry of pain that sounded way too much like Blake.

The Ranger's element of surprise was gone.

Cursing under his breath, Hunter re-doubled his untying efforts. But only one of Cam's hands was free when suddenly three black-clad ninjas burst into the room. Hunter whirled around, drawing his bokken in the same motion. Up until now Cam hadn't even realized he was carrying it. Sparks were once again running up and down the blade as Hunter met the onslaught from three sides with ease. Cam felt almost sorry for the ninjas.

Hunter was making short work of the three attackers, but unfortunately, the degree of noise involved in the fight was way too high. It was sure to attract more ninjas.

Suddenly, a shadow flew through the open window and into the room. The figure rolled over his shoulder, shot back onto his feet and grabbed a handful of Cam's hair in the same motion. An instant later, Cam felt cold steel at his throat. Automatically, he reached up with his free hand, but with the blood circulation barely having begun to flow back into his wrist, there was no strength in his fingers. He clawed ineffectively at the hand holding the dagger. Then Kinaga's raspy voice was at his ear. "Tell him to drop his sword."

"Forget it." Cam hissed through clenched teeth.

Kinaga barked a loud command, and the three ninjas backed off Hunter to allow the ex-Crimson Ranger a clear view of Kinaga, and especially the dagger he held to Cam's throat.

Hunter froze. He knew Cam was in no condition to fight or defend himself from the ninja. He had seen the bloated fingers while untying the cord.

Now the old warrior pressed his blade deeper into Cam's throat, actually drawing a thin line of blood. Cam grimaced.

"Drop...your...weapon!" Kinaga snarled in heavily accented English.

Cam's mouth formed a 'No', but Hunter was already lowering his sword. The bokken clanked onto the floor. The three ninjas were on him immediately, and for a moment Cam could see nothing but a tangled heap of black clothing as they tackled him. Cam winced at the telltale sounds of punches, but Hunter made not a sound.

One of them picked up Hunter's sword while the other two pushed him down onto one knee, pinning his arms behind his back. Hunter raised his head slowly, locking eyes with Kinaga, and had he had the ability to shoot lightning bolts from his eyes, the older ninja would have dropped dead instantly.

Unfortunately, the leader of the Tiger Claw Clan was just as untouched by the ex-Crimson Ranger's murderous glare as he was by everything else.

"Listen," he ordered Cam. And to Cam's dismay, the sounds of battle from outside the cottage had ceased. Bad sign.

"I believe your friends are waiting for you," Kinaga said with a smirk. "Let's join them, shall we?" He jerked Cam to his feet with one pull, the dagger moving from his throat for only a split second, when Kinaga cut the one cord that still tied Cam to the wall.

Then the ninjas hustled their captives out of the cottage.

Outside, a bleak picture awaited Hunter and Cam. The rest of the Ranger team was completely surrounded by black ninjas. There were at least thirty of them, all armed to the teeth. Shane was bleeding from a split lip, Dustin looked like he'd had his face ground into the dirt, Tori's hair was wild and she was supporting Blake, who was leaning heavily on her, clutching his side with a painful expression.

Hunter shot his little brother a worried glance, but Blake gave his restrained brother a small nod and his 'I'm ok, bro' look.

Sensei Watanabe was the only one who didn't exhibit any battle marks. His staff had been taken, like the Ranger's swords, but he stood among his students with dignity and pride, calmly watching Kinaga approach him. The leader of the black ninjas shoved Cam towards the other Rangers.

"So my extra security measures yielded some unexpected results," he hissed and planted himself before the Wind head teacher. "Sensei Watanabe, I presume? You have decided to spare me a trip and deliver the payment yourself?" Kinaga's voice was mocking.

Sensei ignored the jeer. "I've come for my son."

"An exchange we can arrange immediately, _if_ you have brought what I've asked for." Kinaga replied smoothly.

The two old warriors were of about the same height and build, so Sensei didn't even have to move his head as he held Kinaga's cold stare. "I've brought nothing but a proposition," he said calmly.

Kinaga's brows furrowed, a mixture of annoyance and puzzlement.

"A fight," Sensei proclaimed. "For my son's release."

"What? Dad, no!" Cam cried, but neither man even looked at him.

"What's going on, Cam?" Hunter asked next to him, and with a dismayed look on his face, Cam translated the unsettling conversation.

Kinaga was not amused. "You arrogant fool," he addressed Sensei. "What makes you think I would agree to this ridiculous substitute for my well-deserved payment?"

Sensei didn't even blink. "The fact that I will pay you twice the sum you have asked for if you defeat me."

Kinaga regarded him quietly for a moment, then wordlessly turned his head. His hard eyes traveled over Hunter, Blake, Tori, Shane and Dustin, and when he turned back to Sensei, a smug grin was at the corners of his mouth. "I accept. But with your impermissible intrusion onto my territory you have also raised the stakes." He took a step closer towards Sensei.

"Your debt has just quintupled."

 

**_The fight..._ **

Sensei and the Rangers were taken to a large square directly in the middle of the school grounds. A raised wooden platform was located just off to the side, and Kinaga headed straight for it. He beckoned to Sensei to climb the platform. Sensei Watanabe reached for the wide belt around his waist, unbuckled it and took off his formal teacher's robe. Underneath he wore a simpler, lighter cotton robe. He handed the heavy garment to Cam.  
"Dad..." Cam began, but Sensei silenced him with a hand on his shoulder and a reassuring smile. Then he ascended the few stairs to the large podium where Kinaga was waiting for him. The leader of the Tiger Claw clan tossed him one of the simple wooden staffs he was holding and the two men assumed their respective attack positions, silently sizing each other up. The entire plaza had gone deadly quiet as numerous pairs of eyes were glued to the spectacle that was about to unfold.

The fingers on Kinaga's raised hand were hooked, talon-like, and his teeth were bared. A raw, ferocious power seemed to emanate from him, reminiscent of the very animal his clan represented.

Sensei was holding his staff in a two-handed grip. He stood still like a mountain; calm, centered, with the timeless and profound energy of the Wind Ninja flowing through him.

Then Kinaga attacked.

He was incredibly fast and agile for a man of his age as he whirled the staff at Sensei's head and body. But the old Wind Ninja countered every blow. For several minutes the fighting simply went back and forth across the platform as each man was trying to get a feel for his opponent. Suddenly Kinaga feinted a downward blow to Sensei's head with his staff, then kicked high instead, the heel of his boot striking Sensei squarely in the chest. Sensei was driven back two paces by the force of the kick, but this slightly greater distance gave him the chance to swing his own staff at Kinaga with greater force. He centered his inner energy, and swung at Kinaga with an earsplitting cry. The two wooden poles crashed into each other with such ferocity that Kinaga's staff was split in two. He gave Sensei an incredulous look, then hurled the broken pieces away with an angry growl.

Although _his_ pole was still intact, Sensei flung it aside as well.

The black ninja grinned evilly. "Fool."

The two men circled each other, fists held out before them. Kinaga lunged forward, using his arms, elbows, hands and fingers in a succession of rapid attacks on Sensei's upper body. Sensei was driven back, but countered most of the blows successfully. With his eyes fixed on his opponent, he launched into a series of rapid-fire counterattacks, pummeling Kinaga's chest with lightning-quick punches, until the black ninja finally stumbled backwards, breathing heavily, hand pressed to his chest. Kinaga snarled at Sensei, his black eyes throwing daggers laced with concentrated hate at the Wind Ninja, and with a cry that sounded more beastly than human, he came at Sensei again. This time the savage attack included kicks as well as punches, and Sensei now appeared to weaken rapidly as he was forced to retreat yet again under Kinaga's onslaught. The black ninja realized this, too, and his expression became victorious. A swiftly executed roundhouse kick from him sent Sensei sprawling onto the floor.

"Dad!" Cam cried.

Kinaga looked away from Sensei and towards Cam with the look of a predatory animal going in for the kill.

Big mistake.

The half second Kinaga's guard was down was Sensei's opportunity, and he took it without hesitation. In the time it took the black ninja to turn his head back towards his opponent, both of Sensei's legs shot out and up in a double kick that caught Kinaga in the stomach and the side of his hip. He was thrown off balance, and Sensei was back up on his feet so fast that his movements seemed blurry. He immediately launched into a devastating attack on the Tiger Claw ninja, and suddenly there was nothing weak in Sensei's kicks and punches.

Staring from the sidelines, Cam realized with a start that that had been his father's strategy all along. _Appear weak, assure your opponent of victory, then turn the tables when his guard is down._

In his arrogance, Kinaga had temporarily forgotten this essential lesson of themartial arts.

Sensei's final charge was devastating on Kozuhiro Kinaga. The Wind ninja teacher's fist shot out with the force of a speeding train, sending the black ninja flying backwards. Immediately he closed the distance between them, picking up one of the broken pieces of Kinaga's staff in the process. The Tiger Claw ninja's body had barely touched the ground when Sensei already loomed over him, pressing the broken end of the staff firmly to his throat, but without breaking the skin.

Sensei and Kinaga locked eyes for a long moment.

"It is done," Sensei proclaimed quietly and withdrew the staff from Kinaga's throat. But as soon as the jagged wood was gone from his flesh, the leader of the Tiger Claws scrambled to a sitting position.

"Destroy them!" Kinaga screeched to his ninjas crowding around the platform. "Destroy them all!"

But before any of them could move to carry out his orders, a voice resounded across the plaza; clear, loud, and female. "NO!"

Some of the ninjas stepped aside to reveal Aikiko walking solemnly through the parted sea of black-clad bodies. She climbed the platform without hesitation, her manner confident and her expression determined when she addressed Sensei. "Even among the Black Ninja, there is a code of honor to be upheld. You have won your son's freedom fair and square."

She looked around the assembled small army of her father's ninjas. "You have all witnessed this fight. The agreement has been fulfilled. I say they are free to go!"

To the Ranger's astonishment, murmurs of consent could be heard all around.

Aikiko turned back to Sensei and held up her hand. In her palm lay her father's alien remote control. "Take this with you," she said. "It has brought us nothing but pain and disgrace."

Sensei received the gift with a solemn expression.

All the while, Kozuhiro Kinaga had not moved from his position on the floorboards of the podium. He looked beaten, both in body and spirit.

Suddenly Cam was by Sensei's side. Father and son looked at each other, and Sensei Watanabe could see a new respect in his son's eyes as he formally held out his teacher's robe for him. Sensei shrugged into the garment.

The two men turned back to Aikiko. "You could come with us." Cam's offer was genuine.

Aikiko smiled sadly, but shook her head. "I do not belong into your part of this world. I will find my own way, but now that I have finally met people who stood up to my father, I believe now that I can do so, too." Aikiko bowed low to Cam and Sensei. "Thank you for giving me the courage."

Sensei and Cam bowed back to her and left the platform to rejoin their little group. The Rangers had been handed back their swords, and they all crowded around Sensei, ready to return home. Sensei pressed a button, and the portal appeared amidst a bright flash of light.

Aikiko, standing immobile on the podium, smiled at them. "Farewell, Watanabe-san."

Cam smiled back at her. "Farewell, Aikiko-san."

 

_**Epilogue...** _

The Wind Academy's training plaza was once again briefly illuminated by a bright flash as the seven figures exited from the transporter portal. It would be for the last time.

Sensei handed Cam the remote control. "Destroy it, son, and the other one, too," he said firmly. "Eliminate all possibilities of evil ever invading our schools again."

Cam nodded gravely. "I will, Dad." He looked down onto the device he was holding. "But I still don't know how you guys managed to get that portal open from over here."

"With a little help from CyberCam and some fast thinking from Shane," Tori replied.

At Cam's quizzical expression, she gave him a quick, condensed version of events that led up to the opening of the portal.

Cam looked at Shane with a grateful expression and held out his hand. "Thanks, Shane."

The former Red Ranger drew his friend in for a quick hug. "Anytime, bro."

"Hey, wait a minute," Cam said suddenly, turning to Hunter with an amused glint in his eyes. " _You_ know how to activate CyberCam?" he unwittingly echoed Blake's earlier remark.

The Rangers chuckled at Hunter's prompt eye rolling. "Why does everybody around here think I'm a complete computer-illiterate idiot?" But then he grinned at his own question and shrugged. "All right, I might have been at one time, but watching you fiddle with CyberCam's program every day for the past few weeks...I guess something _did_ stick up here." He tapped his temple.

Cam grinned. "I guess, sometimes you _can_ teach an old dog new tricks. Lucky for me."

Sensei Watanabe clasped his son by the shoulder. "I believe that some rest would do us all much good." He looked around the disheveled group. "We will all meet in the dining hall for dinner later." And with another nod at his students he walked away slowly, his staff thumping on the ground with every step. Cam watched his father go, wondering just how much that intense fight had drained him. After all, he had beaten Kinaga without ever resorting to the use of any of his elemental powers. He made a mental note to visit him later in private to talk over the events...and to thank him.

Then Cam, Hunter, and the rest of the Rangers turned and strode towards the Teacher's Building and their respective rooms.

Cam had barely closed his door behind him when he suddenly found himself pressed up against the wall, Hunter's hands buried in his hair. The Thunder's mouth clamped down on Cam's lips in an all-consuming kiss that seemed to come from his very soul.

Hunter normally _was_ the more physical of them, but the voracious intensity of this kiss was unusual even for him. It showed Cam just how worried about him his partner had been.

Suddenly, Hunter pulled back and looked down onto Cam.

"Don't ever scare me like this again, ok?" he said hoarsely, feeling his pent-up anxiety finally dissolving slowly.

Black eyes locked with blue. "Never been my intention in the first place."

"I know, but..."

This time Cam stopped him with a kiss of his own.

For a few moments, the two men simply hugged tightly and kissed, savoring each other's presence. But then Cam started to squirm. Hunter looked at him. "You ok?"

"Yeah. I've just had enough of being pinned to a wall for a while."

"Oh, sorry." Hunter took two steps backwards, pulling Cam with him. "Tired?"

Cam nodded, and the dark circles under his eyes seconded that. "Exhausted, famished, you name it. But the first thing I want to do is take a long, hot shower."

"I hear you." Hunter smiled and reluctantly disentangled himself from Cam. "I'll get you something from the mess hall, ok?"

"Ok. Thanks," Cam replied with a small, grateful smile before he shuffled towards his tiny bathroom.

But when Hunter returned from the dining hall some time later with a sandwich and some fruit, he found that he had apparently taken too long.

Cam had showered, changed into gray cutoff sweatpants and a green t-shirt, and was now sprawled across his bed, out cold.

With a lopsided smile, Hunter put the food down on the desk and took off his boots and leather vest. And for the first time, Cam never even stirred when Hunter carefully lowered himself onto the mattress and slipped an arm around his mate's waist. The dried blood on Cam's neck had washed away, but the thin cut from Kinaga's dagger was still visible.

' _I could have lost you today,'_ Hunter thought grimly, and the depth of emotions that this notion stirred inside him was puzzling. It was the kind of bottomless anxiety he normally only felt for Blake when something bad happened to him. But Blake was family. Hunter looked at Cam's sleeping face. _'Guess that makes you family, too.'_

He smiled, put his head onto the pillow and listened to Cam's slow, even breathing.

' _So glad to have you back!'_

And Hunter slept.

 

THE END


End file.
